


Train Wreck

by Chie (Chierafied)



Series: Drabblers one shots HP [17]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Bad Pick-Up Lines, Canon Compliant, F/M, Hogwarts Fifth Year, Humor, Marauders' Era, Originally Posted on Tumblr, Short One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-15
Updated: 2016-09-15
Packaged: 2018-08-15 04:06:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,002
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8041930
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chierafied/pseuds/Chie
Summary: In hindsight, perhaps Sirius Black hadn't been the best person to consult about the matters of heart.





	Train Wreck

James finished his essay and packed his things, leaving Peter and Remus to their chess match in the Common Room. He climbed the spiral stairs up to the dormitory, where he found Sirius lounging on his four poster bed.

“Peter said you lent him your Transfiguration notes,” he drawled by a way of greeting.

“Yeah,” James said, depositing his school bag on his trunk. “He seems stressed out and keeps complaining he’ll never get through the O.W.L.s so I felt it was the least I could do.”

“Peter also said you had been doodling in the margins again.” Sirius’ grey eyes glowed with mirth and James looked away, his jaw clenched.

“I can doodle all I want,” he said with a stubborn jut of his chin.

“Sure you can, mate… But ‘Mrs Lily Potter’?” Sirius shook his head. “You’re growing more and more pathetic, Prongs, it’s getting painful to watch.”

“Then look away,” James snapped, his brow knitting in a frown.

“I can’t,” Sirius shrugged. “I’ve tried but it’s oddly captivating in a disastrous sort of a way. Like watching a train wreck.”

James pouted. A train wreck wasn’t at all what he wanted to hear his love life compared to – and yet some tiny brutally honest speck in the back of his mind conceded that Sirius might’ve been right.

“Look, Prongs… This whole admiring from afar thing is kind of cute, I admit, but it won’t get you anywhere with Evans. You need to get out there. Go talk to her.”

“And say what?” James threw his arms up in exasperation as he sank to sit at the edge of Sirius’ bed.

Sirius lifted a single eyebrow. “Ask her out,” he said matter-of-factly.

“I can’t,” James huffed, pulling at his hair.

“Sure you can,” Sirius snorted. “Just walk up to Evans and open your mouth.”

“You don’t get it.” James stared down at the floor, the sulky edge in his voice growing more pronounced.

“I really don’t,” Sirius readily agreed, and sat up to pat James’ shoulder. “But you could try to explain it to me nevertheless, if you want, and I’ll listed. That’s what mates are for.”

James mussed his hair, and a slight blush rose to his cheeks.

“It’s like the experiment they talked about a few weeks back in Muggle Studies. When that wacky Muggle scientist stuffed his cat in a box,” he finally said, looking up to meet Sirius’ quizzical stare. “As long as I don’t approach Evans, anything’s possible.”

“I see.” Sirius crossed his arms. “So you’re saying that as long as you don’t ask Evans out, she can’t reject you.”

James nodded, nervously adjusting his glasses.

“Well, I can sort of see the logic there,” Sirius said slowly. “But the problem is that it works the other way around, too. Unless you go and ask her to be your date, she can’t agree to go out with you, either.”

James didn’t say anything. He rubbed the back of his neck, his cheeks still flushed, and the corners of his lips twitched downwards.

He knew Sirius had a point, but somehow is felt safer to keep his distance. When it came to Evans, he had no confidence. They weren’t even that friendly with one another and every time James had tried to be cool, she had always shot him an unimpressed stare. If he walked up to her and asked her out, he knew what answer he was likely to get.

“The thing is, Prongs,” Sirius said, startling James out of his thoughts. “You have to really think about it and decide if the rewards outweigh the risks.”

“Yeah… You’re right, Padfoot.” Suddenly feeling tired, James’ shoulders slumped and he rubbed his face. “You’re absolutely right.”

“And if they do,” Sirius continued, setting his hand on James’ shoulder again, “then you just got to go for it and get it done.”

“All right,” James said, staring at the red carpet. “Though I still have no clue what I should say to her.”

“Don’t worry about that,” Sirius said. “We’ll come up with something together.”

 

* * *

 

 

And that was why, two days later, James Potter stood in the library, a book propped open in his hands as he leaned against a tall shelf. He sent a surreptitious glance down the aisle towards the table where Evans was sitting, hard at work. Had she noticed him already? Did he seem casual enough?

Evans glanced up and James hurriedly looked away, trying to appear thoughtful as he avoided her questioning gaze.

Just go for it and get it done, James reminded himself, ignoring the sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach and the fretfully erratic beat of his heart. He closed the book and tucked it under his arm, and pushed off the shelf. He stood still for a moment, feeling much like a deer caught in headlights, but then steeled himself and started to stroll towards Evans’ table. He buried his fingers in his hair, so she wouldn’t see how badly they were trembling.

He reached her table and stopped, hovering awkwardly beside her. He cleared his throat, pitching his voice a little lower.

“All right, Evans?”

“Busy,” she replied curtly, her stare fixed on the chaos of text books and parchment before her. “Trying to finish this essay for Flitwick.”

The words slipped out before James’ brain could catch up with his tongue.

“You should ask Flitwick to give you extra credit.”

Lily Evans looked up, her green eyes regarding him in confusion. “Huh?”

“Because you’ve utterly charmed my heart,” James finished, feeling the heat rush to his cheeks as he already regretted ever opening his mouth.

Evans’ eyebrows shot up. Her lips twitched, then pressed into a thin line as she desperately tried to hold in the laughter shaking her slender body.

“Potter,” she said when she had finally recovered enough to speak, “let’s just pretend you never said that, yeah?”

“Yeah,” James agreed quickly, and slunk away as swiftly as he could.

 


End file.
